According to a recent report from the Canadian Federation of Independent Business (CFIB), credit unions are the financial institutions of choice for Canada’s small- and mid-sized enterprises (SMEs).

The CFIB research report, released in October, revealed that Canada’s small businesses rank credit unions number one among financial institutions when it comes to things like financing, fees and account manager issues. But what really sets credit unions apart from their bank competitors is one of the staples of the credit union model: service.

When asked to score credit unions and banks on a scale from 0 (worst) to 10 (best), SMEs gave credit unions an overall score of 7.2, well ahead of the first Big Five bank (Scotiabank, 4.8). Credit unions also led the way in service, with a score of 8.8, ahead of every other financial institution.

Among small businesses (defined by CFIB as businesses with five to 49 employees), credit unions’ service score rose to 9.1 out of 10. Mid-sized businesses (50 to 499 employees) were even more taken with credit unions, giving them an overall score of 9.6, more than two full points ahead of the next closest financial institution.

That commitment to providing SMEs with industry-leading service is likely part of the reason why another CFIB report found that Manitoba and Saskatchewan credit unions had a 39.2 per cent share of the SME market in 2015, up 2.5 per cent from 2012 and well ahead of any of the big banks.